Saturday, March 31, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Guess Your Ancestor's 1940 Census Data

"Your mission, should you decide to accept it (come on, you know that you want to!), is to:

1) Pick one of the persons from your ancestry who should be in the 1940 United States Census.2) Using the column headings below (from 1940 United States Census Questions), predict what the entries will be in each column.3) Share your predictions on your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status or a Google Plus post."

I'm going to take my chances with my father, Arden Packard (no middle name). I actually have no idea where he and my mother were in 1940, but I will take a stab at it. My predicted column entries are in red:

* State: California or Florida
* Populated Place: Could be Pensacola, Jacksonville, or Miami, Florida or Los Angeles (least likely), Glendale, or Pasadena, California.
* Ward of City: No clue
* County: Either Escambia, Duval, or Dade counties, Florida, or Los Angeles County, California.
* Township or other division of county: I do not know.
* Block Nos.: I do not know
* Enumeration District: I do not know, and have no basis on which to hazard a guess.

1. Location - street, avenue or road: I do not know
2. Location - house number: I do not know

3. Number of household: I do not know
4. Home owned or rented: Rented. They never owned a house the whole time they were married.
5. Value of home (if owned) or monthly rental (if rented): $60-80/mo, and that is strictly a guess!
6. Does this household live on a farm? No
7. Name of person: Arden Packard
8. Relationship of this person to head of household: Head of household

13. Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940: No
14. Highest grade of school completed: college graduate

15. Place of birth: California
16. Citizenship of foreign born: N/A

17. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - City or town: possibly Norfolk, VA (stationed on an aircraft carrier out of Norfolk)
18. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - County: N/A (Norfolk is an independent city)
19. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - State or foreign country: Virginia
20. On a farm? No

21. Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No): Yes22: If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No): No23. If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22), Was this person SEEKING WORK (Yes or No): No24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No): Yes25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot): N/A26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940: 4027. If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23); Duration of unemployment up to March 30,1940- in weeks: 028. Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher: engineer29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school:I have no idea30. Class of worker: skilled [?]31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks): I have no idea32. Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939): Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions): $8,000-10,000 [and boy, is THAT a guess!]33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No): No34. Number of farm schedule: N/A

Well, there it is. Pure guesswork. It will be interesting, once I do find out where they were, how well -- or poorly! -- my guesses line up with the facts.
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About Me

Graduated 27 April 2012 from the University of North Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in history and Spanish at the age of 65! I will be pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts in Florida Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg beginning in the fall of 2012. A migratory lifeform with a tropism for bookstores, I have also written two books, Booking Hawaii Five-0: An Episode Guide and Critical History of the 1968-1980 Television Detective Series and Non-Federal Censuses of Florida, 1784-1945: A Guide to Sources.

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